1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical system having means for accommodating various distances between PC boards thereof connecting the means, the means including connectors mounted onto respective PC boards and extenders engageable with the connectors. The extenders may have various heights so as to, using a particular extender to mate with connectors, establish the specific distance between the PC boards.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, board mountable connectors are widely used to establish electrical connections between two separated printed circuit boards (PCBs). Usually, there are two connectors, a plug connector and a receptacle connector, respectively mounted onto the PCBs and engageable with each other. The board mountable connectors between the PCBs function as not only a connecting device but also a device for standing off the printed circuit boards predetermined distances. In different conditions, the distances may be different. To meet this requirement, either the plug connectors or the receptacle connectors or both are manufactured to have different heights. This is not an effective and economical solution because the plug or receptacle connectors of different heights should be manufactured in different molds and dies, which increases their cost. One solution for the above issue is to provide two identical board mountable connectors respectively mounted on mother board and daughter board, and extenders of various heights that are engageable with the board mountable connectors. Using a particular extender to engage with the two board mountable connectors defines a particular distance between the mother board and the daughter board. However, the extenders each include an insulative housing, being generally xe2x80x9cH-shapedxe2x80x9d, and a plurality of conductive contacts received in cavities defined in the housing. When an extender is needed for a high stack height application, the contacts are usually long. This results in a difficulty of inserting the contacts into the cavities of the housing without damage. This invention is a method to provide an effective and economical solution for the requirement of different board to board distances.
A first object of the present invention is to provide an electrical system having means for accommodating various distances between printed circuit boards connecting the means in an effective and economical way;
A second object of the present invention is to provide an extender having modular terminal inserts for facilitating the manufacturing of the extender.
To obtain the above object, an electrical system includes a first and a second printed circuit board (PCB), a first and a second electrical connector and multiple extenders of different heights. The first and the second electrical connector are respectively mounted onto the first and the second PCB and the extenders one at a time located between and electrically engaging with the first and the second electrical connector. Using a particular extender to mate with the first and the second electrical connector separates the first PCB a specific distance from the second PCB.
The electrical connectors mounted onto the respective PCBs are preferably identical. Each extender includes an insulative body, pairs of terminal modules assembled to the insulative body. Each terminal module includes a dielectric base and a plurality of signal contacts and a plurality of grounding contacts or grounding blades respectively attached to opposite surfaces of the dielectric base. The extenders of various heights can be manufactured in the same molds and dies, and the heights thereof may be controlled by adding tooling into the molds and dies or removing tooling from the molds and dies.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.